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Geocache Description:

You can come from Potrero Avenue and walk down the hill from a fire road, but it's best to start at the bottom, on Blake and Navellier Streets. A public trail begins at the corner, surprisingly, between two houses. Climb the wall!

Bring a toothpick and please replace the geocache with care, gently.

This cache is on a trail that is under construction by E.C. Trail Trekkers, a local all-volunteer group that is finding, surveying, restoring, and maintaining the many public footpaths and hiking trails within El Cerrito. The cache is hidden in the wonderful Hillside Natural Area -- a wild-ish gem set in an urban environment. The HNA has many hiking trails for exploring and enjoyment, and the one to the geocache creates a link between HNA South and HNA North. There are great views from all along the trail and a bench at the top of the hill for resting after a very steep climb. Hill climbing is a tradition here; in the 1920s, this hill (tree-less at the time) was the site of the National Motorcycle Hill Climb competitions, which drew many spectators from all over the country (one source states 10,000!). Riders attempted to go straight up the hill (a 74 percent grade in some places). Motorcycles are no longer permitted, and hikers should not create vertical shortcuts but, rather, stay on the trails. The geocache is quite near a trail.